Matt Olson is starting to heat up once again, as his two home run night helped propel the Oakland A’s to their fifth consecutive victory.
After an exciting end to the series opener against the Rangers on Tuesday evening, the A’s were looking for a calmer game Wednesday. Lead by powerful Matt Olson and a fine relief appearance from Burch Smith, the A’s extended their winning streak to five games in a 6-4 win over the Texas Rangers.
Much to the dismay of Sean Manaea and the fan cutouts, Rangers left fielder Shin-Soo Choo led off the game with a solo HR to left field.
Fortunately, Matt Olson decided to answer Choo with a two run homerun of his own, which was a 406 foot blast to right field that score Marcus Semien and gave Oakland the lead in the 1st.
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After the initial hiccup, start Sean Manaea cruised through the first three innings as he has in each of his starts in 2020. The issue arose in the fourth inning where Texas brought three runs around to regain the lead.
For Oakland, Ramon Laureano continued his hot start to the year by sending a solo homerun over the wall in center field. The hot hitting outfielder took advantage of the night air that has been sending balls flying out of the park in the last two games.
Once Manaea was out of the game, the A’s received an amazing relief performance from right hander Burch Smith. Throwing 3.1 innings while striking out five, Smith bridged the gap beautifully from Manaea to the deadly back end of the Oakland bullpen.
Not wanting to be left out, young catcher Austin Allen gave the A’s their second and final lead of the game in the seventh inning with his first career homerun that put the A’s on top 5-4.
Following a solid inning from the duo of T.J. McFarland and Joakim Soria, Matt Olson decided the A’s needed an insurance run. Olson sent a deep fly to right center field that was a statcast worthy shot.
Wednesday was the eight two-homerun game of Olson’s career, and the Athletics continue to live and die by their homeruns.
With closer Liam Hendriks having thrown multiple days in a row, Soria stayed in to complete the five out save in the ninth inning and sent the Rangers packing with a 6-4 victory.
Although Manaea has struggled consistently in the fourth or fifth inning in all three of his starts, the A’s bullpen has come to the rescue each and every time.
With initial concerns about the production from the Oakland offensive unit, the flurry of homeruns and scoring in the last few games seemed to have calmed the worries of A’s fans and has led the team to a five game win streak.